{"id":1185859,"date":"2021-01-17T23:15:43","date_gmt":"2021-01-17T23:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1185859"},"modified":"2021-09-11T13:47:05","modified_gmt":"2021-09-11T12:47:05","slug":"barcelona-2-3-athletic-club-bilbao-match-analysis-five-things-learned-williams-messi-griezmann-alba-koeman","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/barcelona-2-3-athletic-club-bilbao-match-analysis-five-things-learned-williams-messi-griezmann-alba-koeman\/","title":{"rendered":"“Marcelino does it again!” – Five things learned as Leo Messi sees red in Barcelona’s shock Super Cup final defeat to Athletic Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a dramatic night of football, Athletic Club de Bilbao beat Barcelona 2-3 after extra time to win the Spanish Super Cup.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barcelona twice took the lead down in Seville only for Athletic to peg them back twice and then win it in extra time. Leo Messi then got sent off just before full-time as Athletic won their first trophy for six years. What did we learn?<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/a>

Black Lives Matter:<\/span> Read more about the cause footballers are taking the knee for<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

1. Inaki Williams’ superstar potential<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Inaki Williams has long been a special talent for Athletic Club, but a lot of his potential has gone unrealised. Despite his awesome record of 175 consecutive matches in La Liga, he’s never scored more than 14 goals in a single season. But now with Marcelino in charge could that be about to change?<\/p>\n

In three games under Marcelino, Williams has 2 goals and 1 assist. And one of those goals, his strike today, was a tournament and trophy-winning one. A frankly storming strike from the edge of the box that left semi-final hero Marc-Andr\u00e9 Ter Stegen absolutely no chance.<\/p>\n

That came as an extra time cap to a solid 90 minutes where he ran Barcelona ragged and indeed set up the opening goal with a delicious cross to the back-post that exposed Jordi Alba’s weakness. This was a consummate performance from Williams, and with Marcelino at the helm of Athletic Club he could be about to take off as a true La Liga superstar.<\/p>\n

2. Antoine Griezmann is cursed<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Was this it? Was this finally the moment that Antoine Griezmann established himself as a Barcelona player? Well, no.<\/p>\n

After his \u20ac120m transfer the Frenchman has been what can charitably be described as inconsistent. He’s shown none of the leadership and lethal incision he did for Atl\u00e9tico Madrid or the French national side, or at least no ability to do it more than one game in three.<\/p>\n

After picking up a fortunate assist in the semi-final, he came into the Supercopa final knowing that there was a lot riding on his shoulders with Leo Messi playing when half-fit. And, well, he didn’t really play well. But then no Barcelona player besides Ronald Araujo really played well, with the team looking utterly exhausted after their semi-final exertions.<\/p>\n

\n

Antoine Griezmann has been directly involved in seven goals in his last four games for Barcelona. <\/p>\n

\u25c9 4 goals
\u25c9 3 assists <\/p>\n

He puts Barcelona in front in the Super Cup final. pic.twitter.com\/Wx0ynLo2HE<\/a><\/p>\n

— Squawka (@Squawka) January 17, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n